Recommended dishes: When available, for sushi, The Bluefin Otoro; for dinner entrees, The Red Snapper red snapper from Florida either steamed, fried with panko, or broiled with teriyaki sauce; and The Wagyu beef steak.

Liquor: BYOB

Restaurant Review

Fuji is one of the top Japanese sushi restaurants in south Jersey. Popular with diners who come to enjoy inventive, expertly crafted Japanese dishes. Fuji is both a local, neighborhood gem and a destination restaurant for Japanese dining enthusiasts.

This family run business is owned by Chef Masaharu "Matt" Ito who is assisted by his son Jesse in the kitchen.

Chef Ito emigrated from Japan in 1976 where he learned the restaurant trade from every position in the kitchen from washing pots and pans, to cooking techniques including food cutting, ingredients identification, vegetable preparation, cleaning fish, and more.

Chef Ito, while in Japan, mastered the techniques used in the art of preparing tempura, nabe hot pot dishes such as yosenabe (seafood hotpot) and shabu shabu (beef hot pot), and fugu (the preparation of poisonous blowfish).

Upon arriving in America. Chef Ito worked at several Japanese restaurants in New Jersey and New York City before opening Fuji in 1979.

Chef Ito has come to be known for his unique techniques to preparing fresh sushi by letting the natural flavors of fish to shine through. In particular, the preparation of fresh fish for nigiri and sashimi, he avoids the techniques used by many sushi places that use rolls fried and smothered with various sauces to mask the flavors of the fish.

His son Jesse has also become an accomplished chef under the tutor ledge of his father.

For a special treat, take a seat at the carved wood sushi bar for the best view in the house and order chef Matt Ito’s Omakase experience, prepared by son Jesse.

Omakase (means I'll leave it to you) is a five course dinner of cooked foods and one sushi or sashimi course. The price determines the ingredients used. Omakase dinners must be reserved at least one day in advance for a minimum of two people and a maximum of eight.

The dining area is relatively small, with Japanese ambiance. The decor is simple with a minimum of fancy Japanese trimmings. The centerpiece is the beautifully carved wood sushi bar. In typical Japanese fashion, they have a unisex restroom.

Parking is available around back of the building. It's hard to see from main street.

(updated: August, 2015)

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